NORTH KINGSTOWN – Providence Business News took home eight awards, including three first-place showings, at the annual Rhode Island Press Association 2016 journalism contest, held Friday evening. The annual competition is organized by RIPA to recognize the best in print journalism in the Ocean State.
Taking home first place for PBN were staff writers Patricia Daddona, Mary MacDonald and Eli Sherman. Sherman’s story, “Will Rhode Island ever leave 38 Studios behind?”, was judged the top Business Story in the state, while MacDonald’s story, “Has the mall been worth it?” came in second in the category.
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Recognized for the best News Story – In-depth was MacDonald’s piece, “City leaders cringe at the thought, but is bankruptcy Providence’s way out?” Taking second in the category as Sherman for his piece, “Will being first pay off for Ocean State?”, a piece that looked at the potential for building a wind energy sector in Rhode Island thanks to the first-in-the-nation Block Island Wind Farm.
Former PBN staff writer Patricia Daddona took first-place honors in the Education Story category for her piece, “Is the MBA losing value?” The judge in the category noted that the “story was exhaustively researched, richly reported and relied on well-sourced interviews to show the personal impacts on the issue.” Judges for the RIPA contest were members of the Idaho Press Association.
Additional PBN awards included the following:
Second place in Single-topic Series for the four-part series on municipal pensions and post-retirement benefits written by Sherman and MacDonald, “The (still) looming crisis.” Third-place honors in the Food and Dining Story category was awarded to Sherman’s piece on the evolution of food trucks as an industry in the state, “An industry on the go.” Also taking third-place honors were PBN staffer Lisa Lagreca and former staffer Darryl Greenlee in the Best Newspaper Front Page category for the front page of the fourth installment of the MacDonald/Sherman pension crisis package, “Who will lead on pensions, benefits?”
The Providence Journal took home the most first-place awards in the contest with a total of 13 (last year the Journal had 19 first-place awards). Providence Monthly, Rhode Island Monthly and the Woonsocket Call each had four first-place awards in the competition, while The Newport Daily News was recognized with first-place honors three times. The Bay Magazine, the East Providence Post, The Independent, Mercury, Newport Life and South County Life Magazine each took home one first-place award.
As is always the case at the annual RIPA awards event, Ocean State journalists were inducted into the Rhode Island Journalism Hall of Fame. This year’s inductees were: Marcia Holmes Green, editor-in-chief of the Valley Breeze; Donna Lee, former food editor of The Providence Journal; and the late Providence Journal investigative reporter W. Zachary Malinowski.
One final task at the dinner, which was held at the Quonset “O” Club, was the election of officers for the press association. James Bessette of the Independent Newspapers succeeds Paul J. Spetrini as president of the organization. Michael McDermott of The Providence Journal will remain as vice president. Sarah Francis of Rhode Island Monthly will remain as treasurer. And Linda Lotridge Levin, University of Rhode Island, emeritus, will remain as secretary.
Earlier this year MacDonald and Sherman were honored with a first-place award in the Society of American Business Editors and Writers annual contest for their two-part series on the Providence 6-10 Connector controversy. Sherman also took top honors from the New England Newspaper and Press Association in the winter for his story examining diversity in management of Rhode Island’s banks. PBN also took first place for its 30th Anniversary special section, published in May 2016 on the occasion of three decades of publishing business news in Rhode Island.
